Nation’s delinquency rate at 18-year low, thanks to sound economy, reforms It’s a real estate and social barometer that doesn’t get a lot of publicity, but it’s important: More Americans are paying their mortgages on time today than they have in nearly two decades, maybe even longer. That’s a big deal, because when large numbers of owners do the opposite — stop paying on their home loans for Continue Reading

The last of six defendants who admitted roles in a $4 million mortgage fraud scheme was sentenced Wednesday to more than seven years in prison, according to the state Attorney General’s Office. The scheme preyed on people trying to save their homes from foreclosure, and included filing fraudulent documents, such as false bankruptcies and false court filings, the office said in a news release. It Continue Reading

The government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, completed 12,902 foreclosure prevention actions in November, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) Foreclosure Prevention Report for that month. Along with those completed in November, the total foreclosure preventions by the GSEs since the start of their conservatorship now total more than 4.2 million. Continue Reading

Despite debt-to-income ratios rising in recent years, delinquencies have remained low in the five years since the Ability to Repay (ATR) requirements were introduced under the Dodd-Frank Act, according to the findings of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB's) long-awaited report on the Ability to Repay (ATR) and the Qualified Mortgage (QM) Rule (ATR-QM Rule). The report, which looks Continue Reading

Michaela Christian lost a long battle with Wells Fargo in 2013 to save her Las Vegas home, a defeat she says changed the course of her life. When the bank refused to modify her mortgage, Christian moved in with a friend and scrambled to rebuild her life. Five years later, Wells Fargo admits it made a mistake. Christian, 46, qualified for the kind of mortgage help that may have saved her home Continue Reading

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took action to prevent more than 63,000 foreclosures in the third quarter of the year, raising the total number of foreclosure prevention actions to more than 4.24 million since September of 2008, the Federal Housing Financial Authority reported on Thursday. Additionally, there were 2,159 completed short sales and deeds-in-lieu during the quarter, bringing the total Continue Reading

Wells Fargo says a computer glitch is partly to blame for an error affecting an estimated 545 customers who lost their homes. The giant bank filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, revealing it incorrectly denied 870 loan modification requests. About 60 percent of those homeowners went into foreclosure. Legislators, housing advocates, regulators and most importantly, Continue Reading

Mortgage delinquencies rose more than 13 percent in September registering the largest single-month rise since November 2008 according to Black Knight's First Look at the mortgage performance data for September. Black Knight said that while September delinquency increases are quite common, three factors led to the large surge seen during the month this year. "Sixteen of the last 19 Septembers Continue Reading

A report by Zillow explains how the effects of the Great Recession were not just twofold but deeply profound—and also reveals how the crisis served to benefit those who bought foreclosed homes during that time. According to the report, nearly half (45.4 percent) of all homes foreclosed in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis were valued in the lowest third of the U.S. housing market, Continue Reading